How To Build Floating Shelves

You need a place to display your photos, trophies, or art, but you do not know how to build floating shelves. These type of shelves do not show the hardware holding them, but instead use pieces of a hollow door. The shelves,a cut-to-size hollow door, slide over a 2 inch by 4 inch piece of lumber.

To build floating shelves , you will need:

Hollow door

Level

Stud Finder

Saw (circular)

Nails (finish)

Sandpaper (finish)

Wood glue

Snap a chalk line the length of the hollow door. Using your circular saw, cut the hollow door in half to build floating shelves.

Smaller shelves need more cutting. Saw the half of hollow door to your required lengths. A 1 inch by 2 inch piece of lumber glued into place will cover the open space in the hollow door.

Using your sandpaper, sand the floating shelves so there are no rough edges. This will ensure a tight fit.

Cut the 2 inch by 4 inch piece of lumber to the thickness of the hollow door. Use another 2 inch by 4 inch lumber board to cover the end blocks of the floating shelves. Screw the piece of lumber into the wall and hold the floating shelves to the wall.

Take the smaller cut piece of lumber and screw it to your desired spot on the wall. The screws need to go into the stud in the wall to hold the floating shelves.

Make sure the floating selves fit. Slide the hollow shelf over the piece of lumber on the wall and check for a tight fit. Use a level to make sure the selves are level. Take the floating selves off the piece of lumber.

Apply glue to the top of the lumber piece on the wall. Spread glue on the inside edge of the floating shelves.

Use finishing nails to permanently attach your floating shelves. Space the nails evenly across the selves.

If you want to paint your floating selves, paint before installing the shelves to the wall. Only place light weight objects on Floating shelves. Do not keep your bowling ball on top of one.